Freed Google exec energizes Egyptian protests

CAIRO — A young leader of Egypt’s anti-government protesters, newly released from detention, joined a massive crowd in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for the first time today and was greeted with cheers, whistling and thunderous applause when he declared: “We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime.”

Many in the crowd said they were inspired by Wael Ghonim, the 30-year-old Google Inc. marketing manager who was a key organizer of the online campaign that sparked the first protest on Jan. 25 to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Straight from his release from 12 days of detention, Ghonim gave an emotionally charged television interview Monday night where he sobbed over those who have been killed in two weeks of clashes and insisted, “We love Egypt … and we have rights.”

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Egyptian Wael Ghonim, a Google Inc. marketing manager, who has become a hero of the demonstrators since he went missing on Jan. 27, two days after the protests began, hugs the mother of Khaled Said, a young 28-year-old businessman who died in June 2010 at the hands of undercover police. AP

Ghonim arrived in the square when it was packed shoulder-to-shoulder, a crowd comparable in size to the biggest demonstration so far that drew a quarter-million people. He spoke softly and briefly to the huge crowd from a stage and began by offering his condolences to the families of those killed.

“I’m not a hero but those who were martyred are the heroes,” he said and then broke into a chant of “Mubarak, leave, leave.” When he finished, the crowd erupted in cheering, whistling and deafening applause.

Ghonim has emerged as a rallying point for protesters, who reject a group of traditional Egyptian opposition groups that have met with the government amid the most sweeping concessions the regime has made in its three decades in power. Vice President Omar Suleiman today made a new gesture, declaring a panel of judges and scholars to recommend constitutional changes within a month.

The mostly youthful protesters insist that no concessions will do unless Mubarak steps down. But the protests, which began when Ghonim and other activists used the Internet to mobilize people to the streets, have lacked a representative voice. That has raised worries the regime could try to fragment the movement or traditional parties try to hijack it.

In his first television interview Monday night on Egypt’s private Dream satellite station, Ghonim said the protests turned from “the revolution of the Internet youth … to the revolution of all Egypt.”

He struck a modest and emotional tone, saying he respected many government officials – even some of those who interrogated him in detention – but the Egyptians wanted their rights. He repeated over and over, “We are not traitors.” When the hostess of the show showed pictures of young men killed in the protests, Ghonim slumped in sobs and left the interview table.

About 130,000 people joined a Facebook page titled, “I delegate Wael Ghonim to speak in the name of Egypt’s revolutionaries.”

Today’s huge turnout in Tahrir gave a resounding answer to the question of whether the protesters still have momentum even though two weeks of steadfast pressure have not achieved their goal of ousting Mubarak. Even government employees joined the crowd, including about 5,000 university professors and teachers who were blocked days ago by security forces.

A group of over 1,000 protesters broke away from the square and marched on Parliament, several blocks away, chanting, “Illegitimate, illegitimate,” and demanding it be dissolved. Several hundred of them prepared to stay through the night, beating drums and lying on the pavement in front of the building – a first, small expansion of the protest out of Tahrir in days.

Some in the massive crowd said they were turning out for the first time, moved by Ghonim’s interview or the photos of those killed in police crackdowns on the protests, which have been little seen on TV in Egypt.

“The (Wael) interview showed a face of the truth which the state media tried to cover up for so long,” said a retired army general, Essam Salem. “Many people are coming because they saw the truth.”

Fifi Shawqi, a 33-year-old upper-class housewife, said she came to the Tahrir protest for the first time, bringing her three daughters and her sister.

“I saw Wael yesterday (in the interview) and I cried. I felt like he is my son and all the youth here are my sons,” she said. “I think Wael brought many, many more” to join.

Ghonim provided a relatable, passionate face for a movement that has been tarred in government media as fueled by foreigners. Some in the broader public have grumbled that the protesters were causing turmoil for nothing now that Mubarak has promised not to run again in September elections.

But the protest movement has resisted elevating a sole leader. In fact, many organizers contend its strength lies in its lack of leaders and in its nature as a mass, popular movement. With his release, Ghonim was added to a 10-member coalition of representatives from the various youth organizers to coordinate the protests and push through their demands, said Ziad al-Oleimi, another activist on the committee.

“Ghonim cannot be a leader by himself, unless he is elected by a committee elected and composed of different groups that represent all these people,” said Shayma Ahmed, a 20-year-old student among the Tahrir crowds.

There were demonstrations calling for the president’s ouster around the country as well with 18,000 people cramming into the main square of Egypt’s second largest city in Alexandria.

Some 3,000 service workers for the Suez Canal also demonstrated in Suez city, while 8,000 people chanted anti Mubarak slogans in the southern city of Assiut.

Meanwhile, Mubarak’s regime offered more concessions to the protesters in hopes of appeasing them while keeping as firm a grip on power as it possibly can.

Vice President Suleiman, who is managing the crisis, announced the creation of committees to propose long-sought constitutional amendments and monitor the implementation of all proposed reforms. The amendments will include presidential term limits and relaxing eligibility rules for who can run. The two committees will start working immediately, he said.

The committee will be led by the head of Egypt’s highest appellate court and composed of six senior judges and four constitutional experts, according to a statement issued later by the official news agency MENA. It will make its recommendations to Suleiman by the end of this month.

Suleiman said that Mubarak welcomed “this national dialogue, emphasizing that it puts our feet on the right path out of this ongoing crisis” and underlining the need for a “clear roadmap with a specific timetable that will take Egypt to the root of an orderly and peaceful transfer of power with respect for the constitutional legitimacy.”

Mubarak has refused the protesters’ central demand that he step down, insisting on serving out his term until elections in September.

The Obama administration is not calling for Mubarak’s immediate departure, saying a precipitous exit could set back the country’s democratic transition. Under Egypt’s constitution, Mubarak’s resignation would trigger an election in 60 days. U.S. officials said that is not enough time to prepare.

Mubarak also promised there would be no reprisals against the protesters, Suleiman said. “The youth of Egypt deserve national appreciation,” he quoted the president as saying. “They should not be detained, harassed or denied their freedom of expression.”

Mubarak also ordered a probe into last week’s clashes between the protesters and government supporters as well as mass detentions of human rights activists and journalists. The committee will refer its findings to the attorney-general, Suleiman said.

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